Job Related Uncertainty in the age of Artificial Intelligence and Gig Economy

Abstract

In this article, we explore the duality of the gig economy enabled by artificial intelligence (AI) in terms of volatility and the promise it offers. We focus primarily on underrepresented and disadvantaged groups of workers who have found a new home, thanks to the gig economy made possible by AI. We examine how their uncertainty is perceived in the existing literature. We then reveal the lack of attention to this group of workers, whose exclusion from the traditional labour market was not problematic in the first place, and who are now portrayed as suffering from poor AI regulation. As such, we expose the hypocrisy of how the development of an AI-enabled gig economy exacerbates job insecurity, but often overlooks the potential of the gig economy to open up opportunities for atypical workers. One problem we have identified is the overrepresentation of atypical workers in the industry. We show that an AI-powered gig economy that does not introduce uncertainty is possible if the sector is effectively regulated. We offer a short roadmap with multi-layered regulatory measures to combat the instability of the artificial gig economy.